ICYMI, public health officials fear community transmission of B.1.1.7 (the "UK variant") is underway in Ontario.

I'll dissect each piece of worrying news from this story.

Controversial 3D. Probably none of you knows about Leber congenital amaurosis type 10, congenital blindness that affects 3 out of 100,000 children, condemning them to blindness for life. The only possible treatment is through gene therapy. 1/n

Thanks to Crispr-CAS9 technology we MODIFY the defective gene inside the patient eye ( they directly inject the treatment into the eye). Before CRISPR the treatment was based on Adenovirus carrying the correct form of the gene

In both cases, we MODIFY the patient DNA and that's the only way (today) to treat this disease. LCA10 is not the only genetic disease affecting kids unfortunately the list is long and the variety of diseases is terrifying.

Now think about a parent with a kid with a genetic disease, he/she would try and do anything to save him/her. ANYTHING and they would take some RISKS, gene therapy was a risk at the beginning, and any new experimental treatment shares a percentage of risk. 4/n

Now we come to #COVID19 and #vaccines. The new RNA vaccines are a HUGE scientific breakthrough, that may open new amazing therapeutic paths. And like ANY other human activity share a risk.

@73inlancs @janethooton_ @ErinInTheMorn @fifi_EY 1/ The 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 government decided pediatric gender care in England would be a monopoly contract (a Labour minister, in 2008), despite all other NHS patients officially being entitled to a choice of providers, & second opinions on diagnoses & treatment, & gave it to GIDS, which has…

@janethooton_ @ErinInTheMorn @fifi_EY 2/…always advocated that trans minors & their families must have no alternative source of care, & subsequent Tory ministers have personally put their signature on renewals of it, and even personally rejected proposals for improvement that have been put forward by NHS England…

@janethooton_ @ErinInTheMorn @fifi_EY 3/…as a result of wider & public consultation. They & their civil servants listen only to GIDS on trans minors - it was GIDS advised against <18s being allowed #GenderRecognition in 2004, & since, on the basis that no one under 18 can be certain of their gender identity, just…

@janethooton_ @ErinInTheMorn @fifi_EY 4/…as many other staff at their trust wrote⬇️ to the press in 2002 (when the first instigator of this case, psychoanalyst Susan Evans was on staff too) that no trans people should be allowed that recognition but needed

@janethooton_ @ErinInTheMorn @fifi_EY 5/…to "cure" us instead. Yet GIDS proved incapable of defending its super-conservative protocol in court - no doubt because GIDS has always expected challenges to be from patients seeking care more like that elsewhere, arrogantly ignoring that services in countries where the…

12 things you should look out for before buying health insurance

A thread 🧵

It’s a good idea to make sure your health is protected under an insurance policy so that you don’t shell out large sums of money for hospitalization and treatment. But buying an individual health insurance policy can be daunting in itself.

Websites and policy documents can be overwhelming. There’s a lot of loaded terms, there’s a whole bunch of things that your policy may or may not cover. It’s important to know and understand the details though, so you’re not surprised later.

In this thread, we'll talk about the things you absolutely need to watch out for when buying an individual health insurance policy for yourself or your family members :)

If you take an individual health insurance policy and the insurance company offers to pay up to ₹15 lakhs during the year whenever you’re diagnosed with a disease or meet an accident, that amount is the 'sum insured'.

Every podcast, journal or book that I have read on health and upstream work boils down to these few steps. If u can get them right, u will be in great shape. A thread

1) Move. Though 10000 steps is just a number but a good goal to keep. This should be one keystone habit
2. Lift. Do strength training. Twice a week Four movements X 3-5 sets X 3-5 reps at 80% one rep max is good

3. Cardio - Not needed if u do 10000 steps but good to bring in for endurance and heart health.
4. HIIT once a week is good to improve anaerobic capacity
5. Sunlight - One of the most important thing that u can do for ur health is spending some time early in the morning

outdoors amidst nature
6. Protein- Make sure to get in 1.5-2gm protein per kg body weight.
7. Fibres - Aim to have 15 gms fibre per 1000 calorie. Half plate every meal preferably should be veggies.

8. Dietary fat is important for brain and hormone health.
9. Processed Sugar best avoided.
10. Fasting has its own advantage but u can do without it if u are managing ur calories. If u eat ur protein and fibre , u will not feel the hunger for rightly processed carbs

half of this website believes that all of your problems can be solved by going to therapy

another half thinks that the entire psychological profession is fake and after some vaguely construed revolution mental health will be solved

what's funny about this is that nothing about it new

I wish this wasn't paywalled because the books Lasch reviewed (in 1976!) sound very familiar. The same kind of dumb debates on this subject that occur constantly here are inherited from boomers

the point Lasch makes towards the end is that all of these books are grasping towards something that neither therapy or politics fully covers, even if both are obviously relevant.

but first, he does a tour through the books. he encounters people who believe all character traits are a product of "propaganda" and "conditioning" that can be fixed with therapy or therapy-like processes, and people who think therapy is a distraction from politics